2016 Sports News, Fantasy Games

Monthly Archives: November 2016

New Orleans Saints linebacker Junior Galette has been sued by a woman who claims that he physically and emotionally abused her during their two-year relationship, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The civil lawsuit stems from an incident on Jan. 4 involving the woman, Galette and several other Saints players during which she asserts that she was a victim of sexual Deacon Jones Youth Jersey assault.

The woman accuses the linebacker of “false imprisonment and human trafficking, virtually keeping her a prisoner, controlling her contact with others, including her mother, and checking her phone to keep tabs on her communications.” According to a petition filed by her attorney, the woman is seeking unspecified monetary damages and has requested a jury trial.

Details from the woman’s story are disturbing. She claims that Galette drugged her with “horny juice” and allowed other Saints players to grope her. The lawsuit cites five other Saints players who witnessed the incident, but does not name them. The assault charge stems from an alleged argument that turned violent, in which the woman claims Galette strangled her and ripped an earring out of her earlobe.

Minnesota also has plenty of reasons to want to move on from Peterson and the ongoing circus. Should the Vikings release Peterson, they would save $13 million in 2015 before recouping a combined $32 million over the next two years. With Peterson turning 30 years old this offseason and the upcoming NFL Draft loaded with top-tier talent at the running back position, perhaps his time in Minnesota is nearing its end.

This altercation at the Combine can’t help a situation that is quickly turning into what looks like the beginning of a messy divorce. Peterson, 29, has spent his entire career with the Vikings since they made him a first-round pick in 2007, and at one point he could claim the title of best running back in the NFL. He’s only dipped below 1,000 yards twice since he was drafted — when he had 970 yards in 12 games in 2011, and the 75 E.J. Gaines Youth Jersey yards he had in one appearance last season.

If Peterson’s camp really does have “every intention to hasten his trade or release from Minnesota,” the Vikings would be without one of the most talented running backs in the league, albeit one who comes with off-field concerns. Either way, the situation will continue to be a roller coaster until the two sides can come to an agreement about Peterson’s future.

“Saw Dez one-on-one with his guy in the back,” Prescott said. “That’s a guy [Bryant], I’ve said it over and over again since the beginning of the year, I’ll take him one-on-one against anybody.”

Bryant reached up for the pass over Fuller and came down with Jordan Poyer Womens Jersey the 26-yard completion for his fifth catch of the day.

“I kept my eyes on him the whole time,” Bryant said of his quarterback. “I followed him and he knew I was going to be over that way and we connected very well. Got the pass down. We both knew it was important and we executed the play.”

On the next play, Elliott scored on a 1-yard run for a 31-19 lead.

Ryan Fitzpatrick took the shotgun snap, rolled two steps to his right and lofted a pass into the corner of the end zone. He released the ball before Eric Decker looked for it, trusting his receiver would turn at precisely the right moment. It made a soft landing in Decker’s confident hands and he secured it by pressing it gently against his chest for a touchdown.

MetLife Stadium shook, Decker made a Lambeau Leap into the crowd and the New York Jets celebrated a 26-20 overtime win against New England last Dec. 27.

“That feeling was awesome,” tackle Breno Giacomini recalled this week. “To Josh Gordon Womens Jersey hear the crowd and to have him actually jump into that crowd, it was tremendous.”

That play — that win — still shines as the high point of Todd Bowles’ 26-game tenure as head coach. The Jets improved to 10-5, needing only a victory in the season finale to secure a playoff berth. They never got that victory, of course, and they have been sliding backward ever since, unable to re-create that surge of electricity that lit up the team, the stadium and the fan base.

Redskins kicker Dustin Hopkins, so good a year ago, hasn’t helped this season, and he missed from 43 and 55 yards Thursday. The latter was a curious decision. He hasn’t been kicking well, so why take that shot, which would Ben Heeney Authentic Jersey have been a career long? It gave Dallas a short field that it turned into a touchdown drive. Later in the game, the Redskins failed to secure an onside kick with 9:22 remaining. Dallas recovered and, with another short field, scored another touchdown.

Defensively, they just aren’t good enough to make consistent stops against an offense such as Dallas’. That isn’t a surprise. But even though they “only” gave up 353 yards, they allowed 31 points and had chances to slow the Cowboys’ offense. Sometimes a missed tackle hurt; other times it was allowing quarterback Dak Prescott to escape pressure. The Redskins are good enough to put themselves in position to win any game, but …

Brees isn’t going anywhere, but perhaps only because he is owed $54 million over the next two seasons. The 35-year-old will be 37 by the time his contract with the Saints expires, meaning New Orleans may also make drastic moves to prepare for Bo Jackson Authentic Jersey life after their Hall of Fame quarterback is no longer effective.

Whatever the thinking, the Saints are being proactive. We’ll see if that’s a good thing.

Prescott and Elliott should have the ownership groups with Washington, the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles looking at them the way Jones looked at RG3 and Morris in 2012.

“Without a question, the future was looking bright,” Redskins defensive end Chris Baker said. “But at the end of the day you have to take it one week at a time. We thought we had the quarterback of the future.

“It was great because it was like Robert couldn’t throw a bad pass. He was throwing great passes to Santana, back shoulder fades to end the half. Everything was just clicking. We were running the ball whenever we wanted to.”

With nine sacks and six takeaways in the past three games, the Saints’ defense has proven productive from a fantasy perspective recently. The real selling point here is the matchup, as rookie Jared Goff struggled in his debut last week in completing just 54.8 percent of his passes for a lowly 4.35 yards per attempt. Not every league accommodates streaming strong matchups each week at this position, as there are formats where managers often hold onto two defenses and thus the free-agent market is thin this time of year.

In those types of scenarios and with Jason Myers Authentic Jersey the Saints poised as sizable home favorites over a Rams team that rates last in the league with 1.22 points per drive, New Orleans is an interesting streaming commodity.

With 24 tackles in his past two outings and a penchant for big plays during his career, Trevathan could sustain this awesome tackle rate with Jerrell Freeman sidelined due to a four-game suspension. The Titans’ run-heavy approach could feed Trevathan, who is available in nearly 80 percent of leagues, with a steady stream of tackle opportunities.

A snap rate of 77 percent during the past three games with valuable freedom as the team’s free safety has led to Wilson averaging a stellar 8.1 fantasy points per game using ESPN’s IDP scoring model.

Facing the Vikings’ short-pass-centric offense, Wilson could enjoy another nice day in the tackle department on Thanksgiving afternoon. For those seeking a streamer for Sunday, how about Washington’s Donte Whitner? The strong safety has averaged 8.75 tackles during his past four games and should be busy in the box against Dallas’ stellar running attack.

We know the rookie can handle an uptick in targets, as Boyd averaged 8.3 touches per game as a volume-driven receiver for his career at Pitt. It’s impressive to consider Boyd has registered a higher rate of targets and catches per route run than LaFell this Jermey Parnell Authentic Jersey season, and he produced his six receptions against six different defenders in coverage in Week 11, revealing the team’s creative deployment for their young weapon.

On those six catches, Andy Dalton enjoyed a passer rating of 132.3 targeting Boyd, his highest rate when throwing to any of the team’s pass-catchers. Dalton also produced a QBR of 98.5 targeting Boyd this past Sunday, again highest on the team and a massive chasm from the team-worst rate of 1.1 targeting LaFell. With a high-percentage route tree and versatile ability to line up all over the field, I’m intrigued by Boyd’s potential increase in exposure and usage in the wake of injuries to Green and Giovani Bernard.

But the big names aren’t the only ones wearing the custom footwear. A growing number of players are wearing one-of-a-kind cleats — usually just in pregame warm-ups but sometimes in games — and many of them are getting the customized gear from an unlikely source: a sneaker shop in Buffalo, whose co-owner and cleat artist have ridden their custom designs all the way to a partnership with Nike.

“It’s still just fun to have some skin in the game,” Green said.

Players were also wondering if Jacob Josefson Authentic Jersey there will be any additions or subtractions to the sites’ offerings and what would happen if the sites do ultimately combine into one site.

“I know some players are worried about what would happen about aspects of the sites that are not synergetic, mainly FanDuel not offering a number of sports like golf and MMA that DraftKings does offer,” said Dan Back, a popular industry voice at community forum RotoGrinders.

FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles Jamie Langenbrunner Authentic Jersey said he is exploring whether to broaden the number of sports the site offers, but for now he wants to take a long look at which aspects of each site are the best. For example, FanDuel’s football contests include a roster spot for kickers, while DraftKings’ include a flex position instead. Eccles says keeping both sites operational through the 2017 football season gives them time to decide.

“There are obviously nuances of the products,” said Eccles, who will become the joint company’s chairman of the board. “There’s a number of people who love the kicker and a number of people who hate it. There’s a number of people that love the flex player and an equal number of people who hate it. What I hope we can do is really bring the best of both. Some areas we may want to have both options as we move forward toward a single platform.”

Finishing runner-up to the runner-up is no small feat, especially when it comes to Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Corey Seager.

As expected, Seager finished third in the National League MVP voting announced Thursday, behind winner Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs and second-place finisher Daniel Murphy of the Washington Nationals.

For Seager, the NL’s Rookie of the Year, finishing third among three finalists is nothing to be ashamed of, but instead it’s more validation of his successful arrival on the major league scene.

The cost of this faith, of course, is that we’ll hate the results much of the time — especially now that we have an actual leaderboard that attempts to measure value itself. And concluding that Mike Trout is the most valuable baseball player in the world should be Eric Kendricks Authentic Womens Jersey one of the easiest decisions an MVP voter gets to make in his or her life.

It’s as great as Jose Altuve, Yoenis Cespedes and Eric Hosmer combined. It’s as great as Justin Upton, Chris Davis, Kendrys Morales and Mark Trumbo combined. Only two players in post-integration history — Willie Mays and Barry Bonds — have ever produced a better five-year run than Trout has produced in his first five-year run. He is, through age 24, the greatest player in baseball history. We’re not talking about a great player, a generational player, another in a line of establishment superstars. We’re talking about something that history has never seen, and it’s happening right now, in front of us, every day — and the continued runner-up finishes suggested we were missing it.

Bottom line: Betts just wasn’t that great in close games, with a barely positive WPA total. The Red Sox went 20-24 in one-run games, in part, because Betts wasn’t as good in those games as he was otherwise. He did have some big games in this Everson Griffen Authentic Womens Jersey list — of the six highest single-game WPAs between the two, he had five:

Betts, however, also had negative WPA in 25 of his 43 one-run games (Trout had 15). Worst of these was May 6 in a 3-2 loss to the Yankees, valued at minus-.213 WPA. Betts went 0-for-4 with a walk: fly out leading off the top of the first; two-out walk in the second; groundout leading off the fifth with the score tied; popped out bunting in the seventh after a leadoff double with the score still tied; struck out in the ninth after a leadoff single with the Red Sox down 3-2. He had chances to start rallies or to move runners up and failed. That’s a bad game.

“I actually asked the man what he could give me for it,” he said. “He offered me $1,000. I said no because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to come back and pay it. Finally, he got down to $250. I said, ‘I’ll take it.’

On the bus ride back from LAX late Sunday night, he sat behind Fisher and went over some film with him. But Quinn checked himself into a local hospital shortly thereafter. Fisher said it was “highly unlikely” that Quinn’s condition was related to the benign brain tumor he was diagnosed with in high school, which caused severe headaches and prompted doctors to drain excess fluid from his skull.

“I would tell you this: We’re not hesitant to put him in there and play him,” coach Andy Reid said about Hill’s role moving forward.

Hill made the most of his 38 snaps against the Panthers. Quarterback Alex Smith threw the ball to Hill 13 times, or almost twice as much as any of his teammates. He had 10 catches, or six more than any of the Chiefs’ other receivers. He had a 27-yard catch after taking a short pass and breaking an attempted tackle. That was the Chiefs’ only play of more than 16 yards.

Hill leads the Chiefs in touchdowns with four and is second behind Travis Kelce in catches with 32. He’s ahead of both Maclin and Chris Conley, who have played a lot more.

The Chiefs have to be careful with how much offensive playing time they give to Hill. They can easily wear him out because he’s only 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds. He’s important to the Chiefs in other ways, particularly as a punt returner. He again showed his value there in the fourth quarter against the Panthers when his 21-yard return set up the game-tying field goal.

But he’s too valuable on offense for the Chiefs to drastically cut his playing time when they have the ball.

Former Miami and North Carolina coach Butch Davis told ESPN on Monday that he is leaving the network immediately to accept the head coaching position at Florida International.

Davis, who has been working as a college football studio analyst since 2014, agreed to a five-year contract. Pete Garcia, FIU’s executive director Brent Urban Youth Jersey of sports and entertainment, said Davis will be introduced Tuesday afternoon.

“We’ll tell you how it happened then,” Garcia said.

Garcia said Ron Cooper, who has gone 3-3 as FIU’s interim coach, will remain in place for the final two games of this season.

Fisher spoke with Quinn and his wife, Christina, on Monday.

Quinn, the 14th overall pick out of North Carolina in 2011, racked up 40 sacks from 2012-14, third-most in the NFL. He was limited to eight games in 2015 after undergoing back surgery and has played in seven of the Rams’ nine games this year, with two sacks, two forced fumbles and two pass deflections.

When he was a teenager, Quinn’s brain tumor caused severe headaches and prompted doctors to drain excess fluid from his skull. Now 26, Quinn still goes to biannual checkups. But his two missed games this season were merely a product of shoulder and neck injuries.

Fisher said he hasn’t had any prior episodes and would not rule Quinn, or Sims, out for Sunday’s home game against the Miami Dolphins, winners of four straight.

“He was fine after the game,” Fisher said of Quinn. “As a matter of fact, he sits behind me on the bus. We had the long bus ride back from the airport, and I was actually sharing some thoughts on the game and watching some plays from the game with him.”

Garcia — who has a long history with Davis, including stints working together with the Hurricanes and then the Cleveland Browns — used Davis as a consultant the last time he hired a coach, Ron Turner, in 2013.

The Patriots are tough to beat at Gillette Stadium with just three home losses over the past four seasons. One of those losses came this year with Brady serving the final game of a suspension and rookie Jacoby Brissett starting at quarterback (16-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills).

Couple that with this being a tough spot for Seattle, which is coming off a physical Monday night home victory over Buffalo and then traveling across the country for a Sunday night game, and this sets up as well as the Patriots could have hoped.

“He was reported as killed in action so he Jerick McKinnon Authentic Jersey ended up having to serve longer than he was supposed to,” Celek said. “Someone saw him and the guy thought he saw a ghost and was like ‘You’ve been reported killed in action.’ So no one had his papers, they told his family that he had died. I don’t remember how (much) longer he served, but he said guys that were coming in were leaving before him so he didn’t know it was going on. That was one of those crazy stories.”

It was those conversations with his grandfather that first piqued Celek’s interest in the military, an interest that has grown into a passion for the fifth-year NFL veteran.

Celek is the 49ers’ nominee for Jerome Simpson Authentic Jersey the 2016 USAA “Salute to Service” award for his consistent participation in activities helping the military. Finalists for that award will be announced in January, and the winner will be named at the NFL Honors show in Houston the night before the Super Bowl.

Among Celek’s recent activities are a behind-the-scenes tour of Moffett Field, an active Marine recruiting station, where he met with Marines and Air Force families living on the base. He also is a regular at Fleet Week in San Francisco, where he meets with sailors during the San Francisco tradition celebrating the naval history of the Bay Area.

All of those activities allow Celek to stay close to the military, but he’s actually long given consideration to being on the other side of those meet and greets.

Specific to the Xs and Os, safety Patrick Chung’s solid work covering tight ends should help the Patriots limit one of the Seahawks’ emerging weapons, Jimmy Graham, who dazzled on Monday night with two one-handed touchdown catches.

Just call Muskegon Heights quarterback Willie Snead IV The Playmaker’ Snead generated big plays all with his dual-threat skills the Tigers’ spread offense. He’s a tremendous high school football player’ said veteran Muskegon Catholic Central coach Holmes, who Cassius Marsh Authentic Jersey lost twice to Snead-led Heights teams. Willie Snead makes plays. It was difficult to prepare for him because of his athleticism and ability to run and throw well’ Snead was named the Associated Press Division 5 Player of the Year for his standout senior.

Snead was joined on the honor squad by Oakridge quarterback Potts and lineman Brenden Cook and Montague wide receiver Root. Montague coach Pat Collins, who led Montague to the past two Division 6 state titles and a spot this year’s regional championship game, was honorable mention. Also earning honorable mention were Muskegon Heights wide receiver Deontae, Montague quarterback Cockerill, linebacker and Kent City linebacker Kruithoff. Snead completed 126-of-186 passes for 2 yards with 13 touchdowns and one interception.

He also carried 172 times for 1 yards and nine Christine Michael Authentic Jersey TDs. Defensively, Snead also was a key player at linebacker and safety, recording tackles and one interception. A returning all-stater, Snead set Heights’ records and has verbally committed to Ball State University. He’s such a tremendous athlete with good vision of the field’ said Oakridge coach Schugars, whose team went 1 against Heights the past two seasons. You can’t let him sit back there and look over the defense because he’d pick you apart. He’s going to have a great college career, too’ Potts, who tied or broke 12 school records as a quarterback and kicker, was a steady defensive back with 45 tackles and two interceptions. He was the all-state kicker last and sparked Oakridge’s offense this with more than 1 yards rushing, 700 yards passing and 34 total TDs. Cook, a state powerlifting champion, opened holes as a mobile pulling guard and doubled as a hard-hitting inside linebacker. He was a unanimous all-state selection as a lineman. Schugars rates Potts and Cook as two of his most dedicated players and leaders. They were team captains and never missed a practice or game – covering 209 dates – during their three-year varsity careers. Both Brenden and are character kids who won’t disrespect your program or your school’ said Schugars, who calls Potts the best athlete he’s coached 42 years.

They were concerned about the team more than their individual success. They are great leaders who are concerned about other people. They epitomize what we want Oakridge football player’ Root, who played on Montague’s back-to-back state title teams, led the Wildcats on both sides of the ball. He caught 50 passes for 701 yards and eight touchdowns and intercepted five passes as a defensive back. He’s our most dynamic multi-purpose threat’ Collins said about his three-year varsity player and team captain.